John K Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Sunday avro I'm driving home from the Stratford garden centre (can you tell I'm 46 with no hope for life) on the B4632 and I get stuck behind one of those MASSIVE European HGV's And before you say anything I was in the Ford Mundane so I was stuck and anyway I wasn't in a hurry. I followed him all the way to Mickleton and at the south end of the village he indicated for a right off the roundabout to continue towards Cheltenham. No big deal - except for the really low railway bridge between Mickleton and Weston Sub Edge and then the monstrous diversion down country lanes at Willersley for the sewer works... Who says local knowledge has been superseded by Sat Navs... As he was pulling away from the roundabout I managed to get past him, straining the mighty Mundane to its limits (oh Mr Grumpy where were you...) and then put the hazards on slowed him down and made lots of hand waving and pointing gestures which I hoped indicated reduced headroom in the universal motorists language. Any way he stopped, looked, waved and flashed... I'd like to think I at least stopped a very long reverse down a country lane if he noticed the bridge and Lord knows what if he didn't... A Knighthood might be a little OTT, so an OBE will do just fine... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Your 'Good Deed' for the day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Know those roads well - colleague of mine once managed to launch a Citroen ZX into the copse at the bottom of the hill before that very railway bridge. Never figured how he managed to get it about 6ft in the air! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 Know those roads well - colleague of mine once managed to launch a Citroen ZX into the copse at the bottom of the hill before that very railway bridge. Never figured how he managed to get it about 6ft in the air! I reckon I know the very wood... going downhill through the 'S's on the Broadway side of the hill, bridge, then there is a sharpish right hander into a tight left. Getting airborne just there is quite impressive..! But it's a fab road when the hedges are low and the visibility is good. In the better weather there are a few too many geegees and bicyclalists to go quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Nope - Mickleton side John. By the Honeybourne turn. Still an impressive feat though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 LOL respect is due, that's a straight road where the cross road is..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhutch Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 One 'bridge bash' a day on average... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistonbroke Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 One good deed ... what comes around ..... etc. etc . BUT ! Had you have gone ahead of him . set up a camera , recorded the "rail disaster of the century " on film . Sold the distribution rights to the media . Hence making a huge sum of dosh . Then retire from public life to the haven of your choice & live happily ever after 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 One good deed ... what comes around ..... etc. etc . BUT ! Had you have gone ahead of him . set up a camera , recorded the "rail disaster of the century " on film . Sold the distribution rights to the media . Hence making a huge sum of dosh . Then retire from public life to the haven of your choice & live happily ever after You are a sick and twisted man... And also rather evilly brilliant..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I made a nice sum once from one of my customers when I was selling skip loaders. One of their drivers used to take a shortcut down a country road under a low abandoned railway bridge. He used the shortcut once but had forget to retract the telescopic arms. The impact managed to rip the skip loader body clean off the chassis. Body couldn't be repaired so he needed a brand new one and in a hurry, which I had in stock. The problem was the cab was green and the body I had was bright red - but he had no choice and took it. A £22k mistake and I still see that green and red Christmas truck driving around Warwickshire...with a different driver, of course. So don't dismiss letting people drive into bridges, fixing their mess keeps all sorts of people in work and it stimulates the economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Everall Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 As a Rail Engineer I attended many, many bridge bash incidents and in most cases the vehicle comes off the worse but not always. In Chesterfield we once had a single track brach line bridge knocked off its bearings by 600mm and the police never found the vehicle that did it. In Shipley one year an abnormal load had to pass under a Rail bridge and had a Police escort leading it. When I arrived on site the bridge had been severely damaged and the bottom steel girder flanges has been sliced through by the load. When I asked the police what had happened they were a bit sheepish.....eventually they admitted that they took the wrong route and the lorry just followed them!! I attended too many fatalities when the drivers or other vehicles were hit when trying to get under bridges that were too low for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikef Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Some years ago I was part of a working group set up to find out why the Whitehouse railway bridge in Swindon was being hit by so many lorries. It was the most frequently hit bridge in the UK at some point. Anyway, we duly assembled at a site visit and the first thing I noticed was that on an advertising hoarding to one side of the bridge was an advert for a bra – the one with the foreign supermodel (I can’t remember her name) with the catchphrase “Hello Boys”. I did suggest that this was much more likely to catch the eye of most red blooded lorry drivers rather than the low bridge warning signs and was probably a contributory factor in the bridge strikes. The ladies in the group seemed quite shocked that this might be the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Some years ago I was part of a working group set up to find out why the Whitehouse railway bridge in Swindon was being hit by so many lorries. It was the most frequently hit bridge in the UK at some point. Anyway, we duly assembled at a site visit and the first thing I noticed was that on an advertising hoarding to one side of the bridge was an advert for a bra – the one with the foreign supermodel (I can’t remember her name) with the catchphrase “Hello Boys”. I did suggest that this was much more likely to catch the eye of most red blooded lorry drivers rather than the low bridge warning signs and was probably a contributory factor in the bridge strikes. The ladies in the group seemed quite shocked that this might be the case. Nothing changes, well apart from the advertising sign I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhutch Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 One of my uncles has also had a driver hit a bridge, oddly but fortunately in the new lorry, which was the only one insurance beyond 3rd party. - As said, its more common than you might think. Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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